Description:

Broad, upright form with neat habit; beautiful scarlet berries in the fall and into the winter; striking foliage is dark green with gold edges, flushing with red in the fall

Ornamental Features

Rubricaulis Aurea English Holly is primarily grown for its highly ornamental fruit. It features an abundance of magnificent red berries in late fall. It has attractive dark green foliage edged in gold with hints of red. The spiny round leaves are highly ornamental and turn an outstanding red in the fall, which persists throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Rubricaulis Aurea English Holly is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It is a good choice for attracting bees to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Rubricaulis Aurea English Holly is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens

Planting & Growing

Rubricaulis Aurea English Holly will grow to be about 15 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 10 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 years or more.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in moist to wet soil, and will even tolerate some standing water. It is particular about its soil conditions, with a strong preference for rich, acidic soils. It is quite intolerant of urban pollution, therefore inner city or urban streetside plantings are best avoided, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.